This invention relates to washing systems for dispensing liquid cleansers, typically liquid or cream soaps. A typical washing system includes a container for the soap and a manually operated valve which may be an off-on valve or a pump valve. Ordinarily the container is mounted directly on the valve structure. A variety of such dispensers are in common use today.
In another type of washing system, a plurality of the dispensers are served from a single container. In one such system, sometimes referred to as a gravity soap system, a liquid reservoir is mounted on the wall above a plurality of basins, with a dispenser positioned at each basin and fed by a line from the reservoir. The head pressure of the liquid in the container above the dispensers causes fluid to flow by gravity into each of the dispensers to fill the valve cavity. Liquid is dispensed by actuating the open-shut valve to empty the valve cavity into the operator's hand. When the valve is closed, the cavity is refilled by gravity flow from the reservoir. While this system works adequately when the reservoir is positioned directly above the dispensers, it is not satisfactory when the reservoir is positioned at a distance from the dispenser or below the dispenser or at the same level as the dispenser, as liquid will not flow from the reservoir to the dispenser. Also, of course, it requires that the reservoir be significantly above the dispensers in order to produce the necessary head pressure.
In another configuration, sometimes referred to as an under-the-counter system, the reservoir is positioned directly under the counter and connected to each of a plurality of pump type dispensers mounted above the counter. With this type of construction, the reservoir is filled by removing one of the dispensers and pouring the liquid through the dispenser housing into the reservoir below the counter. After the refill operation, each of the pump dispensers must be primed by repeatedly actuating the pump mechanism. Typically about 75 to 110 strokes are required per dispensers to adequately prime the dispenser to start pumping. Also, the requirement of directly mounting the dispensers on the reservoir limits the capacity of the reservoir.
The two major concerns of any washing system today are the unit costs and the maintenance time (cost). Thusfar most installations have solved only one of the two issues. Some manufacturers reduce the maintenance cost by providing soap cartridges to reduce the bulk soap refilling time. Others provide bulk soap in low cost plastic soap dispensers. These have the disadvantages of higher maintenance cost and low or no vandal resistance.
The disadvantages of existing multiple valve and single reservoir systems include the following:
The valves are high cost, designed to withstand a high hydraulic head. The piping system is made of costly metallic pipes either inside the wall, requiring early plumbing, or exposed non-esthetically pleasing plumbing. The soap used has to be a water thin vegetable soap, to run in the pipes and meet the valve design criteria. Such soap, once popular, is now outdated and currently replaced with lotion type soap. This system was frequently malfunctioning, raising the maintenance cost.
There are major obstacles in improving the existing systems including:
1. Lotions in use today have too much friction with the tube length, thus not having sufficient pressure to be able to dispense at the valve outlet end. PA1 2. The less expensive on/off gravity valves needed to be replaced by pumps to suck and push the lotions. PA1 3. Such displacement pumps will empty the supply line, which will cause a problem in re-priming. Some installations may not re-prime at all, due to the long distance between the reservoir and the pump.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved washing system which will overcome the various problems and disadvantages of the earlier systems. In particular, it is an object to provide a new and improved washing system in which the initial cost of the various components will be reduced and in which the maintenance costs will be reduced, typically those related to the refill of the soap reservoir.
Other objects, advantages, features and results will more fully appear in the course of the following description.